Things Blacks Don't Do
by florgurl
Summary: A short story about Sirius from ages 11 through 15. It deals with his first few years at Hogwarts, his parents, how Andromeda influenced his life, and decisions he has to make. I wrote this for a FanFiction contest and decided to post it here as well.


**-1-**

There are many Things Blacks Don't Do; one of them is to associate with blood traitors.

The first time Sirius remembered seeing his mother curse someone off of the Black Family tapestry was the summer before he started at Hogwarts. He walked by the drawing room and heard his mother's scream from inside. He walked in to see what was wrong. He saw his mother standing in front of the tapestry, her wand pointed at it. "What happened, Mum?"

"One of your cousins refused to pass a Ministry Bill preventing the Mudbloods from going to Hogwarts," she answered.

"Why would he do something like that?"

"She, Sirius. There are people who don't respect pure blood anymore. They think the Mudbloods are just as good as the purebloods. We know better though, don't we?"

Sirius nodded and stood next to his mother. She raised her wand and screamed "_Deleterius!_" There was a flash of purple light, and Sirius saw that the name _Amelia Bones_ had been replaced with a small scorch mark.

---

It was Sirius's first year at Hogwarts. He looked around Platform 9 3/4 nervously, seeing if he recognized anyone. He spotted three of his cousins, Andromeda, Bellatrix, and Narcissa. He pointed them out to his mother, and they began walking towards them. All three of them were older than Sirius; Narcissa was thirteen, Bellatrix fifteen, and Andromeda sixteen.

"Would one of you mind helping Sirius?" His mother asked as they reached the three girls, "I need to get back home as soon as possible."

Andromeda smiled, she had always been Sirius's favorite. "I'll help him," she said.

"Thank you," his mother replied before turning and leaving.

"Come on, Sirius," Andromeda said, turning to him, "the train is going to leave in a few minutes. Let's go on and find a seat for you."

Sirius followed her to the train. "So, how much do you know about Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Not much," Sirius replied, "I know you get sorted into one of four houses. Mum and Dad want me to be in Slytherin."

"Of course they do, you're a Black." Sirius noticed Andromeda's voice became a little stiff as she said this.

"Are you in Slytherin?" he asked.

"No," she answered, "I'm in Ravenclaw. Narcissa and Bella are both in Slytherin though."

They reached the train and Andromeda helped Sirius pull his luggage on board. "The first years usually sit at the front," she told him.

They came to a compartment where a boy and his parents were. The father seemed to be putting the boy's luggage onto the rack above the seat; the mother seemed to be teary-eyed, and was calling out a list of items, apparently checking to make sure the boy had not left anything at home. "I'll be fine, Mum," the boy said as his mother hugged him tightly. She nodded and left the compartment. The father handed the boy a brown paper package and whispered something in his ear. The boy's eyes grew wide and he smiled broadly. "Really?" he asked. His father nodded and smiled. The boy hugged him and his father rumpled the boy's already messy hair then followed after the mother.

"He looks nice," Andromeda said. "Would you like to sit with him?"

Sirius shrugged as she slid open the compartment door. The boy looked up from the package his father had given him; he had messy black hair and glasses. "Hello," Sirius said.

"Hello," the boy replied, "I'm James Potter."

"My name's Sirius Black."

James looked over Sirius's shoulder at Andromeda. "Is she your sister?"

"No," Sirius answered, "she's my cousin."

Andromeda helped Sirius put his luggage on the rack over the seat. "I'm going to find some of my friends," she said. "There is one thing I want you to remember while you're at Hogwarts though: Just because there are things Blacks _don't_ do, it doesn't mean that they are things Blacks _shouldn't_ do."

Sirius gave her a confused look. She smiled at him. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out." She winked at him before leaving.

James looked at Sirius. "What did she mean by that?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sirius replied with a shrug. "Hey, are you a pureblood?"

James gave him an odd look. "Yeah. Why are you asking though?"

"My parents said purebloods are better than mudbloods. They told me not to get mixed in with the wrong sort."

James's eyes grew wide again. "You said the word!"

"What? Mudblood?"

"Yeah."

"What's wrong with it?"

"My mum says it's really rude, and that they aren't any different from us."

"Of course they're different!"

"How? I have a cousin whose father in a Muggle, and he isn't any different."

"I don't know, maybe we'll learn about it at school." Sirius decided to change the subject. "What do you have in the package?"

James grinned excitedly. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah," Sirius replied. He leaned closer as James whispered, "An Invisibility Cloak."

**-2-**

There are many Things Blacks Don't Do; one of them is to believe in letting half-breeds take part in society.

"What is the Magic world coming to?" Sirius's father asked, voice slightly raised, as he read the _Daily Prophet_ after dinner one night.

His mother looked up from her needlework. "What happened?"

"The Ministry is funding research to make synthetic blood for vampires to drink and a potion to help calm werewolves during the full moon!"

"Let me see that." His mother put down her needlework as his father handed her the paper, pointing to the article he had just read. Her eyes scanned the paper at a fast pace. "It's impossible!" she exclaimed as she handed it back.

"May I see it?" Sirius asked.

His mother's arm changed directions as she handed the paper to him instead of this father. He skipped the part about the synthetic blood and just read the part about the werewolf potion. Theoretically, if a werewolf took the potion for a couple of days before the full moon he would transform not into a werewolf, but into a normal wolf. It would be almost as if he were a wolf animagus, with a few obvious differences.

"Idiots," his father muttered, "they should all be kept in cages where they can't bother real humans. The Ministry shouldn't be encouraging them to try and be normal like this."

"Better yet," his mother added, "the should be killed. They have no right to interact with us."

---

"Have you noticed anything strange about Remus?" James asked Sirius and Peter one night as they studied for the next day's Defense Against the Dark Arts test in their dormitory. Earlier that night, after dinner, Remus had announced that he wasn't feeling well and had gone to the Hospital Wing.

"Other than he gets sick often and his family seems to have the worst of luck, no," Sirius replied.

It was true. It seemed that almost every month Remus would either get sick or he had to go home because of a "family emergency." Sometimes, when he came back, he would have scratches or scars that he would usually blame on a strangely violent cat that his parents kept.

"What are you thinking?" Peter asked.

"It started out as a joke," James began, "you know, wouldn't it be an odd coincidence if..." he paused, "...but, it turned out to be true."

"What did?"

"He's always gone during the full moon."

"What?"

"I started keeping track of it when we learned about werewolves in Defense earlier this year, just for fun, you know, but the joke became reality."

"Are you saying you think Remus is a werewolf?" Sirius asked.

"It's not impossible!" James said, somewhat defensively. "I'm going to ask him when he gets back. I just wanted to see what you thought to make sure I wasn't being an idiot about this."

Sirius grinned. "Like you are about almost everything else?"

Peter laughed as James threw his quill at Sirius.

Remus returned the next day with a scratch across the back of his hand.

"What happened to your hand?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, I, er, scraped it against the side table in the Hospital Wing," Remus replied hesitantly.

"What was it you had?"

"The stomach virus."

"Ah."

There were a few moments of silence. Sirius caught James's eye and nodded.

"Remus," James said slowly, "have you noticed you're always gone during the full moon?"

Remus's head jerked towards James. "I am? No, I haven't noticed."

"Don't you find that a bit odd?"

"Maybe." Remus made himself busy looking busy.

"Is there a real reason you're always gone during the full moon?"

Remus sighed and put down his quill. "Dumbledore said you would probably find out sooner or later. Now is as good a time as ever to tell you: As you've probably guessed...I'm a werewolf."

Something in Sirius's stomach lurched; Blacks weren't friends with half-breeds. He knew Remus was still Remus, but it was hard to let go of the way you were raised.

**-3-**

There are many Things Blacks Don't Do; one of them is to betray the family.

Sirius heard his mother scream as he passed by the drawing room. He had heard this same scream before and knew what it meant. He walked in to find out who the culprit was this time. His mother had her wand pointed towards the lower left-hand corner of the tapestry. He asked the all-too-familiar question, "What happened?"

"Your idiot cousin has married a Muggle-born." His mother's voice was cold and harsh.

As Sirius looked closer at the tapestry, he noticed the name _Andromeda Black_ had been wiped off. Sirius smiled, she had married Ted Tonks after all. He turned to face his mother, "What's wrong with that?"

"What did you say?" His mother asked slowly.

"What is wrong with Andromeda marrying Ted?"

Her voice began to rise. "With how you were raised you should know bloody well EXACTLY what is WRONG with it!"

"What, dishonor and pride and all of that?"

"Yes! Look at what she has done to the honor of the name Black!"

"If you ask me, this family never had much honor to begin with anyway."

"Well, I didn't ask you, did I?"

Sirius raised a eyebrow as if to challenge her.

"GET OUT!" She screamed, pointing towards the door. "You're just as bad as she it! Get OUT of my HOUSE this INSTANT!"

"Gladly," Sirius said with a grin.

As he left the drawing room to begin packing, he could hear his mother muttering about how Regulus had always been her favorite anyway and he knew what was important in life even if others didn't.

As he headed out the front door with his luggage in tow, he heard his mother scream "_Deleterius!_" and saw a flash of purple light from the drawing room window. His name was off the tapestry.

He loaded his belongings onto his broom and started flying towards James's house, they would be sure to let him stay there. As soon as he lifted off the ground, he remembered what Andromeda had told him in first year. This time, he understood it.

Just because there are things Blacks _don't_ do, it doesn't mean that they are things Blacks _shouldn't_ do.

The End.


End file.
